1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an engine oil filter system comprising: a filter-attachment base joined to one side surface of an engine; and an oil filter attached to the filter-attachment base, the oil filter filtering lubricating oil supplied to the engine from an oil pump, and, especially, relates to an oil filter system with an oil cooler.
2. Description of the Related Art
An engine oil filter system including an oil filter attached to a side surface of an engine with a filter-attachment base interposed therebetween has already been known as disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2007-270691.
In addition, the following two techniques have been known that each provide an engine with an oil cooler for cooling down lubricating oil: a technique that integrates an oil cooler in an oil filter (refer to Published Japanese Translation No. 2004-513283 of PCT/US2001/045617); and a technique that separately attaches an oil cooler to an engine.
The technique that integrates an oil cooler in an oil filter requires a considerable modification of the structure, which is complex, of the oil filter itself, in turn leading to a significant increase in the manufacturing cost by necessity. On the other hand, the technique that separately attaches an oil cooler to an engine requires that an attachment portion to which an oil cooler is exclusively attached be formed on an engine, and thus is very limited in terms of layout.